What We Believe

Nashik Baptist Church is a reforming baptistic church. We hold to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. You can click on the link to consult that document for a fuller description of our beliefs.

Below, we have briefly detailed our major beliefs.

A Brief Declaration of Belief

We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments in their original writings as fully and verbally inspired of God, that God preserves the words of Scripture, and the church accepts them as the final authority for faith and life. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God, and that it is divinely inspired and preserved. We believe in plenary, verbal inspiration and that the Bible is the only complete and final revelation of the will of God to man, and the supreme, infallible authority in all matters of faith and conduct.

We believe in one God eternally existing in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. We believe in the Trinity, the unity of the Godhead in the form of three Persons: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. They are equal in every divine perfection and execute distinct but harmonious offices in the great work in redemption. We believe in God the Father; we rejoice that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayer, and that He saves from sin and eternal death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ.

We believe in the deity and virgin birth of Jesus Christ. We believe in Jesus Christ, the eternal and only begotten Son of God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, of virgin birth, sinless in His life, making atonement for the sin of the elect by His death, burial, and resurrection.

We believe in the personality, deity and abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Holy Spirit who came forth from God to convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgement to come. We believe His purpose is to regenerate, indwell, sanctify, and comfort those who believe in Jesus Christ.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins, a substitutionary sacrifice, according to the Scriptures, and that all who believe in Him are justified through His shed blood. We believe that all men by nature, choice and practice are sinners, but that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We believe, therefore, that those who by faith receive Christ as Lord and Saviour will rejoice forever in God’s presence, and those who do not receive Christ as Lord and Saviour will be forever separated from God.

We believe in the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, His ascension into heaven, and His present life as our great High Priest and Advocate. We believe His resurrection was bodily and personal, His ascension was back to heaven and visible, and He is now engaged as the great High Priest for each believer.

We believe that all who repent and receive the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, are born again of the Holy Spirit, and thereby become children of God. We believe that His blood was shed for us on the cross. Jesus Christ is the only propitiation for sin. Without the shedding of the blood of Jesus Christ there would be no forgiveness of sin.

We believe that heaven is the literal, eternal, conscious abode of the redeemed, and that hell is the literal, eternal conscious abode of the unredeemed. We believe in heaven, the eternal home of the redeemed. We believe heaven to be the place where the saved will live forever in the eternal bliss and blessings of God. We believe in hell, the Christless eternity for the lost, where there will be burning and torment for those who have not received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour. We believe that hell, unbelievers, Satan and all the fallen angels will be cast into the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever and forever.

We believe that the Lord Jesus Christ appointed two ordinances—baptism and Lord’s Supper—to be observed as acts of obedience and as perpetual witnesses to the cardinal facts of the Christian faith. We believe in the church: a living spiritual body of which Christ is the Head and of which all regenerated people are members. We believe that the local church is a company of professing, born-again believers in Jesus Christ, immersed on a credible confession of faith, and associated for worship, work and fellowship. We believe that to local churches are committed for perpetual observance of the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and that God has laid upon these churches the task of proclaiming to a lost world the acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, and the enthroning of Him as Lord and Master. We believe that human betterment and social improvements are the inevitable by-products of such a gospel, but we do not believe that a social gospel will save.

We believe that baptism is the immersion of the believer in water as a confession of identification with Christ in death, burial and resurrection, and that the Lord’s Supper is the partaking of bread and fruit of the vine as symbolical of the Saviour’s broken body and shed blood, in remembrance of His sacrificial death until He returns.

We believe in the priesthood of all believers. We believe that the apostolic office ceased with the death of the apostles. We believe that it is His church that He promised continual existence, to continue the work He started until He comes again. We believe that the ministry of reconciliation is committed to every believer and all are saints/priests of God. The believer is therefore able to commune directly with God, confess his sins directly before God and personally study the Word of God without need of any other proxy or representative before God saving the Lord Jesus Christ.

We believe that all believers are called to a life of holiness, devotion and service to the Lord. We believe that every human being is responsible to God alone in all matters of faith; that each church is independent and autonomous and must be free from any ecclesiastical or political authority; therefore, church and state must be kept separate as having different functions with each fulfilling its duties free from the dictation or patronage of the other.

We believe that spiritual gifts are given to the church for the express purpose of winning the lost and edifying other believers. The Holy Spirit is given to each believer upon acceptance of Christ and His purpose is to exalt and bring people to Christ in other than self-gratifying ways. Speaking in tongues was the least important of these gifts and was given as a sign for unbelievers.

We believe in the sealing, security and preservation of true believers in Jesus Christ. We believe in the eternal security of all who are born again and that such inheritance is incorruptible and undefiled, and that each believer is kept by the power of God and nothing can separate us from Him, ourselves included. We believe that believers can lose the joy of fellowship with God, can grieve God and can quench the Spirit of God in them, but they cannot lose the salvation of God granted to them.

We believe in the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ over all creation as the heir of all things and in His personal, visible return as predicted in the Scriptures. We believe in the bodily and visible return of Jesus Christ according to His promise. We believe in the general resurrection of the dead. We believe that unbelievers will face God and be judged by Him according to their works, not for salvation, but for their proper and rightful places in the lake of fire. We accept that there are several biblically-reasoned views of eschatology and that there should not be ungodly division in the church over this issue.

We believe and accept literally the first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis, and reject any idea of theistic evolution or of the days of Genesis chapter one being long periods of time.

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Daily Verse

Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. — Psalm 73:21-24 (KJV)